John Eyre, president of the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica.

Local swimming does not enjoy the support and popularity of games like football and cricket but is making far more rapid strides than most other sports. The reason is the amount of work both officials and participants are putting in.

With world standards rising rapidly this means that only the dedication of organisations such as SwimJamaica, an initiative of the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica (ASAJ), will be able to keep Jamaica alongside the rest of the world.

SwimJamaica, a non-profit organisation launched in January 2005 has as its vision the development of aquatic sports from the base by providing opportunities for every Jamaican to learn to swim through learn-to-swim programmes that are safe, fun and accessible.

Programme structure

The brainchild behind the programme, president of the ASAJ John Eyre, stated that it was out of concern for the safety of young swimmers and the realisation that there were inadequate programmes here that pushed him to find better alternatives.

"When my first daughter started to swim I would go down to the stadium pool. One day I noticed one of the more experienced coaches in his learn-to-swim class take a young child and just throw him into the water. Of course the child panicked and subsequent to that there was ridicule of the child," Eyre recounted.

"I thought to myself at the time that there must be a better way to teach children how to swim because it appeared to me that all that process did was instil fear. So I started looking around to see what other programmes there were," he said.

Eyre stated that after examining other learn-to-swim programmes around the world including those in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom and within Jamaica it was realised that the ASAJ of itself could not take on the mandate of teaching Jamaica to swim.

"When I became president of the ASAJ one of the things that I determined was that in order for us to significantly improve and change the long term prospects for Jamaica's competitive programme we had to increase the base of swimmers and competitive aquatics," Eyre said.

Areas for development

An initial meeting of key individuals within swimming took place in April 2004 and three main areas for development were identified including two learn to swim programmes designed for children and adults and a training programme for instructors.

With the help of English couple Catherine and Peter Moore who came to Jamaica and volunteered to help with the programme SwimJamaica was launched with 50 swimmers, taught by two instructors.

Since then there have been significant developments. According to Georgina Boland, manager of Swim Jamaica, "as of September 2008 the SwimJamaica Children's programme had 1600 children in lessons with 150 of these children sponsored from inner-city communities. Over 110 adults registered for the adult programme since lessons commenced in June 2005 and overall SwimJamaica has trained over 140 instructors."

Now a team of 36 trained instructors teach at seven swimming pools within Kingston, two in Montego Bay and also in the sea in Discovery Bay, St Ann and Oracabessa, St. Mary.

LIME's contribution

In 2008 SwimJamaica got a shot in the arm from telecommunications company LIME. The company's contribution will enable at least 500 children from inner-city-schools to participate in SwimJamaica's programmes at two Corporate Area facilities, the National Stadium Pool and Bournemouth Bath.

Students from the following institutions are expected to participate: Auburn Basic School, Boys' Town All-Age School, Cecil Boswell Facey Basic School, Crescent Road Basic School, Galilee Early Childhood Deve-lopment Centre, Grace Hibbert Basic School, Joy Town Learning Centre, St Alban's Primary School, Tarrant Baptist School, Victory Basic School and Red Hills Road School.

"Most of the sponsorship will be used by SwimJamaica to cover the cost of instructor fees, equipment, certificates, pool fees and teaching materials," Boland said.

Boland explained that," LIME will also provide computers and broadband Internet service for a library and homework centre that is being set up at the Bournemouth Bath facility that is currently being renovated by the Kingston Rotary Club."

The Lime sponsored inner-city swim programme is scheduled to begin on January 20.

The SwimJamaica programme is expected to expand across the island and will take place mainly through franchising. SwimJamaica trained instructors will be able to purchase a franchise and run their own SwimJamaica Swim School with the backing and support of the organisation.

"The programmes already have quality standards and controls built in to ensure quality is maintained across franchises. Once we can expand, we expect that at least more children and adults will become more aware of the sport and learn to swim," Eyre said.

SWIM JAMAICA PROGRAMMES CHILDREN'S PROGRAMME

The programme is designed for children from the age of four years and consists of seven coloured levels. Each level has a set number of skills that a student must complete in order to earn a pass, and builds on the skills attained in the previous level. At the start of each term a welcome leaflet is sent to parents/guardians detailing the skills their child will learn over the 10 weeks. A SwimJamaica t-shirt (the colour for the level the child is commencing) is presented to each student and a certificate is awarded to students at the end of a level.

For a student to complete the entire children's programme (seven levels) it would take at a minimum, seven school terms (providing the student passes a level each term). However, even if a student progresses to level 3 they would be able to swim 25 metres and have learnt basic lifesaving/water safety skills.

ADULT PROGRAMME

The adult programme has been running since June 2005. The programme comprises 70 skills and seven stages. These are detailed on a skills record card, which is given to students when they start lessons. The programme is flexible, catering for non-swimmers as well as those wishing to improve their swimming ability.

As with the children's programme, each skill has a lesson plan and a detailed description of the standard expected for the skill to be passed. Skills are similar to the children's programme with topics including the four competitive strokes, elements of lifesaving, and fundamentals of water polo and synchronised swimming.

A simple assessment test is conducted periodically. When students pass a skill it is marked off on their skills record card.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

To develop excellence within the instructional team SwimJamaica has developed three training courses.

These courses form a structured vocational career pathway. Starting as an assistant (at 14 years old) a person can work through to qualify as an instructor. From there, instructors can also conduct the assessment tests for the children's and adult programmes or purchase a franchise and run their own swim school.

Documentation includes a student manual, tutor manual (with seminar notes and timings), student assessment sheets and examination papers.

The assistant course is 12 hours (eight hours practical, four hours theory) and qualifies a person to assist an instructor. The trainee instructor course is 20 hours (10 hours practical, 10 hours theory) and qualifies a person to instruct levels one and two of the children's programme. The instructor course is 65 hours (35 hours practical and 30 hours theory) and qualifies a person to instruct all levels of the children's and adult programmes.

SwimJamaica has trained over 100 persons (many of whom have progressed through more than one course) and employs an instructional team of 30. With ongoing professional development, SwimJamaica aims to raise the standard of learning to swim, teaching, increasing the professionalism of the sport and providing employment and careers.

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMME - INNERCITY SPONSORSHIP

SwimJamaica offers sponsored places to children from inner-city communities through partnerships with schools who have expressed an interest in joining the programme. To build a sense of ownership and commitment to the programme parents/guardians pay $50 to $70 per lesson. Sponsorship covers the remainder of the cost.

Since the launch in January 2005 SwimJamaica has increased the number of sponsored places from 16 to over 150 (from 10 schools), enabling children to have lessons who would not usually have the opportunity to learn to swim. SwimJamaica sponsors these children and there is a growing waiting list of schools wishing to join the programme through sponsorship.

LOCATIONS

Lessons also take place at seven other pools managed by Swim- Jamaica or by a SwimJamaica Franchise. These pools are at:

The American International School of Kingston

Holy Childhood High School

St. Andrew's High School

The University of the West Indies

NCB's Wellness & Recreation Centre

The Lagoon in Montego Bay

Ironshore in Montego Bay

The Sea in Discovery Bay

Getting started under the watchful eyes of an instructor.